P L A Y E R S | L U T H I E R S | C O L L E C T O R S GUITARBENCIssue 2H 2012 A C O U S T I C & C L A S S I C A L Interviews with: Les Stansell Daniel Roberts Ken Bonfield Discover: Guitar Anatomy Multiscale guitars Larson Bros, Bashkin Brondel guitars Moore Bettah Lessons, Reviews, And much more... E D I T O R S N O T E G U I T A R B E N C H Thank you for looking over our sophomore EDITOR: Terence Tan issue of Guitarbench magazine! We’ve had CO-EDITOR: Jessica Pau great feedback on our first issue and are greatly SALES/MARKETING: Jessica Pau indebted to our readers and sponsors for your Contributing Writers: Anton Emery, Harry Fleish- encouragement and support. man, Timm Kummer WEBSITES: guitarbench.com In addition to our usual articles on guitar Our Online Magazine: www.guitarbench.com profiles, construction and tonewoods, we are introducing new features and columns. The information and advertising set forth herein has In particular, we have 2 new columns designed been obtained from sources believed to be accurate. The to help our readers navigate the minefield of publisher, however, does not warrant complete accuracy of such information and assumes no responsibility for any terminology used in the world of guitars. Firstly, consequences arising from the use thereof or reliance Guitar Anatomy. This is a pictorial reference for thereon. Publisher reserves the right to reject or cancel any the terms used to describe various parts of the advertisement or space reservation at any time without notice. Publisher shall not be liable for any costs or damages guitar. if for any reason it fails to publish an advertisement. This publication may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, Secondly, we have very lucky to have Harry stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by Fleishman, director of the International school any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the of Lutherie pen a series of articles on the more publisher. modern and unusual features available in guitars today. Copyright ©2012. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Not to forget the multi-instrumentalists, our Issue 2 section entitled Different Strings will feature Published by: T.TAN instruments other than guitars. This issue, we Photographers: T.Tan, T. Klassen, M.Bashkin, B.Galloup, T.Mcknight, L.Stansell, have a really nice Ukulele by Moore Bettah M.Roberts, J.Arnold, T.Kummer, J.Curren ukes. Finally we’ve also featuring the workbenches of famous luthiers who share an insight into their professional working lives. DO YOU LIKE OUR For our iPad and tablet friends, our PDF file will be available in single page format for easier MAGAZINE? browsing. Please consider subscribing Please watch this space and help us grow to serve your musical needs better by telling your friends about us and also telling us what we can for our future editions and improve upon! help us stay in publication. Terence Tan, Editor. Just Click Here! C O N T E N T S I N T E R V I E W S L E S S O N S R E V I E W S F E A T U R E S E V E N T S 39 St James’s St Brighton� Baranik� 01273 671841� Bashkin� theacousticmusicco.co.uk� Batson� Beneteau� Beardsell� North American Guitars in the UK� Berkowitz� Over 50 luthier made guitars - 150 mandolins - from the USA & Canada in stock. Established 2001.� Brondel� Guitars from £1800 - £25000, mandolins £500 - £13000. Try them out in my playing room.� Brook� Charis� Matsuda M1 Custom� Circa� Italian Spruce/Wenge� Chasson� Claxton� de Jonge� Doerr� Fay� Gallagher� Galloup� Greven� Hamblin� Hoffman� How� Kinnaird� Klepper� Kraut� Laskin� Leach� Matsuda� McKnight� Osthoff� Petros� Schenk� Schwartz� Sexauer� Sheppard� Somogyi� Stehr� Tippin� Webber� Wingert� Woolson� Wren� P R A I R I E S T A T E This large 19” Larson Brothers Jumbo model was submitted by Tony Klassen. Klassen is a Larson Brothers enthusiast who now builds reproductions of their work under the New Era name. This huge instrument has the internal metal rod and features Brazilian rosewood back and sides and delicate fingerboard and headstock inlays. The case is original to the instrument. Imagine bringing this behemoth on a road tour! Specs Model: Jumbo Fingerboard: Ebony Year: 1930s Fingerboard inlay: Dot & engraved inlay Top: Spruce Bridge: Ebony, Inlaid Back and sides: Brazilian Rosewood Nut Width: 1 11/16” Headstock: Solid Scale length: 25.5” Headstock inlay: Flower pattern of pearl & abalone Lower bout width: 19” Neck: Laminated Depth: 4” Binding: Ivoroid K N O W L E D G E Guitar Anatomy - Front Welcome to our new Guitar Anatomy feature! Ever wondered what all those terms bandied around the forums and guitar shops refer to or mean? Here’s the place to find out. Each issue, we’ll go through a view of the guitar, and explain the terms used. Think of it as an anatomy class for guitar lovers! This issue, we’ll go through some of the basic elements of the front of the guitar. Next issue, we’ll tackle some of the specifics of the body. Headstock Neck Headstock Veneer Tuner Nut Fret Fingerboard Glossary of terms (from top to bottom): K N O W L E D G E - Headstock Veneer: A decorative and structural slice of wood layered over the headstock. Usually a hard- wood such as rosewood. - Tuner: Mechanism for applying tension to the strings. Can be geared or non-geared (friction). Also known as machineheads or tuning machines. - Nut: Small strip of hardwearing material at the joining of the headstock and neck. It is grooved to provide consistent string placement. The nut is one of the endpoints of the vibrating length of the string. Commonly used materials include corian, ebony, bone and graphite. - Fret: Metal strips inserted into the fingerboard. Pressing the string against the fret is called fretting and af- fects the vibrating length hence pitch. - Fingerboard: Slice of hardwearing material attached to the top of the neck used as a backboard for frets. Most commonly a hardwood such as ebony or rosewood. Also known as fretboard. - Top: Vibrates the air inside the body. Commonly a softwood such as spruce, although hardwoods and synthetic materials have been used. Also known as soundboard or table. - Saddle: Part of the bridge which supports the strings, as the end point for the vibrating length of the string. Transmits vibrations through the bridge to the top. - Bridge: Hardwearing material attached to the top used to anchor the strings and support the saddle. Body Top Saddle Bridge K N O W L E D G E Multiple Scale Fingerboards Harry Fleishman Multiple scale fretboards are gaining popularity with forward-thinking guitarists and luthiers around the world. Although there is a lot of hype connected to the idea and also some trepidation on the part of musicians, there is no reason to be afraid. As one of the earliest users of the multi- scale fretboard I hope I can offer some clarification and help those of you who are interested to make a well-informed decision about whether it is a good idea for you. K N O W L E D G E What is a Multi-scale fingerboard? A multi-scale fingerboard or fretboard is nothing more than one that uses one scale length for the low string and a different, usually shorter, scale for the highest string. Connect the dots and you have a multiple scale board. That’s it. Surprisingly, the multi-scale fretboard can be virtually, or completely, transparent to the hands of the musician. If you play one of my guitars and I don’t tell you it is multi-scale, you won’t notice. Here is a simplified diagram to illustrate the idea. Think 3 fret guitar! You can adjust whether the “tilt” is evenly distributed, more at the nut end, or more at the bridge end. Imagine a normal nut; all the “tilt” is now at the bridge. Again, lay out the fret scales where you want them and connect the dots. The potential advantage is that in this manner one can obtain the power, especially in the bass, of a long scale, along with the sweetness and lack of twang of the shorter scale. Think Martin D-18, versus Gibson J-45. This is an oversimplification, but not by much. The Martin has more power, the Gibson is sweeter. Or think long scale bass vs. short scale bass. I think you’ll find that basses gain much from the Multiscale board—even more than guitars. The first instrument I was involved with that had a Multiscale fretboard was an instrument invented by John Starrett called a Starrboard. In 1977, John asked for my help during his development stage of this instrument, and we have been close friends ever since. He is now a PhD in Math. K N O W L E D G E Here’s John playing a double Starrboard. John came up with his tapping instrument that employs a matrix of halftones, fretted horizontally with strings spaced vertically, to allow one fingering to cover all scales. Because of the large range of notes from low B below E on a bass, to high b four octaves above, however, we needed a way to have a long scale for the low B, but a shorter scale for the high b.